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Trade is generally understood as exchange. This is often thought of in terms of the exchange of goods and services for money. Moreover, trade is most often associated with the idea of international trade.
Trade, whether international or intra-national is generally taxed, whether this is through a sales tax such as Value Added Tax or import duties on goods from other countries. Trade can also be supported through the use of subsidised; the most commonly discussed is agricultural subsidies in so called developed countries.
Taxes and subsidies can be considered, along with other rules and regulations governing trade, under the broad notion of barriers to trade (as one persons assistance is another persons barrier). Whilst there are arguments for and against free and/or fair trade, the burden of taxation on trade creates a distortion, which in some cases may be desirable, but often is not.
By shifting the burden of taxation and subsidies from exchange to unearned income (created by the community as a whole) a greater degree of justice can be achieved in trade, as is true for enterprise and development.
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